Amusing Hobby Centurion AVRE

[magman2]

Is this the 0.30 cal Machine gun as supplied in the kit or is it a 0.50 cal machine gun??

Net Photo 

[Greg B]

That’s a .30.

[magman2]

Thank You I thought it was but I wanted to make sure 

[Kingsman]

Can anyone explain why the M1919s were kept in 30-06 (cloth belt?) and not converted to 7.62x51 disintegrating link?  That was a common conversion elsewhere.  Or were they converted?  I worked in the DE&S firearms team for several years, admittedly some years after the AVRE and M1919 had gone out of service, and I don't know.

 

Changing the cupola weapon for an LMG back in the day or a GPMG later would have been easy, but changing the co-ax from Browning to GPMG or even Chain Gun would be more difficult but not impossible.  Other Centurion users specified different co-ax weapons.  In some respects a 50 co-ax for the AVRE might have made some sense for its anti-materiel properties.  RAC made the switch from 30-06 to 7.62 with Chieftain, later replacing the Brownings on Ferrets, Shorlands, Saracens etc.  But then RAC had used different MG ammunition since 1940.  AVREs seemed to slip through that net.

 

What are the attachments on the lower hull front?  Dozer with blade removed?

[Greg B]

Probably £. No doubt for a legacy fleet of a couple of dozen vehicles, inertia in finding the replacement and war stocks of ammo etc. Bear in mind the 165 ammunition was exchanged for US stocks for Granby because the UK stocks were that old and risky to use.

 

The attachment at the front are for the dozer or plough.